A new trailer for The Batman is here, showing Robert Pattinson in action as The Dark Knight at last. The clip dropped at DC FanDome, a virtual event celebrating its second year in 2021. This is also the second time the FanDome has hosted a trailer for The Batman, so fans are getting anxious to see the movie for themselves.
The Batman stars Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, a.k.a. Batman, along with Zoรซ Kravitz as Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman. The movie includes plenty of other A-list stars – both real-life actors and top-billed comic book characters, including Jeffrey Wright as Detective James Gordon, Paul Dano as The Riddler, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth and Collin Farrell as The Penguin. The movie has been delayed several times now, but the new trailer confirms its release date as March 4, 2022.
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The Batman is directed and co-written by Matt Reeves, with additional writing by Peter Craig. It is expected to be something of a reboot for the Batman film franchise, though it is not clear if it is intended to kick off a cinematic universe akin to the MCU or the DCEU. Instead, it takes Batman back to his roots with a street-level campaign against violent crime, as opposed to apocalyptic stakes.
The movie will draw from some of the most iconic Batman comic book arcs ever published, including Year One, The Long Halloween and Ego. It is expected to focus on Batman’s detective skills more than other recent movies, and it takes place in Batman’s second year of fighting crime, when he is about 30 years old.
Technically speaking, work on this movie goes back to at least 2014, when it was to be co-written and directed by Ben Affleck when he played the Caped Crusader himself. Early reports indicated that this version would have pitted Affleck’s Batman against Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke, but Affleck eventually stepped down from the movie and it was completely overhauled in his absence.
In Reeves’ hands, the movie became more distant from the DCEU film franchise, which was increasingly unpopular with the general movie-going audience. Reeves has refrained from saying that the movie is not a part of the same overarching story altogether, but in 2017, he did tweet that his movie “wouldn’t be filled with cameos servicing other stories – that it would be a BATMAN story.”
Judging by the latest trailer – and the general reaction in fan comments online – this will be a welcome reset for the Batman franchise. The Batman premieres on Friday, March 4, 2022.
